The Roman calendar
Months of the year
• Januarius, after the god Janus • Iulius (originally Quintilis, 5th
• Februarius, named after the month), after Julius Caesar
Februa festivals marking the • Augustus (originally Sextilis,
original end of the year 6th month), after Augustus
• Martius, after the god Mars • September (7th month)
• Aprilis, uncertain origin, after • October (8th)
an Etruscan goddess, Aprilis? • November (9th)
• Maius, after the goddess Maia • December (10th)
• Iunius, after the goddess Juno
The divisions of the Roman month
• Kalends: the first day of the month
• Nones: the fifth or seventh day of the
month
• Ides: the thirteenth or fifteenth day of the
month
Days were counted inclusively backwards from the next
division point of the month
• For example, January 2
would be IV nonibus
Ianuarii, ‘four days from
the nones of January’
• March 10 would be VI
idibus Martii, ‘six days
from the ides of March’
What would your birthday be?
Days of the week
• The Romans considered • Dies Saturni = Saturday ‘Day
that days were sacred to of Saturn’
a particular god or • Dies Solis = Sunday, ‘day of
the Sun’
goddess, and considered
• Dies Lunae = Monday, ‘day of
these to operate in a the Moon’
seven-day cycle, but they • Dies Martis = Tuesday, ‘day of
did not have a concept of Mars’
weeks with weekends • Dies Mercurii = Wednesday,
‘day of Mercury’
• Dies Iovis = Thursday, ‘day of
Jove or Jupiter’
• Dies Veneris = Friday, ‘day of
Venus’
Nunindae
• The eight letters A B C D E F
G H in the columns on the
table to the right give the cycle
of nunindae, ‘ninth-days’
(counting inclusively from each
day A). These mark the cycle
of market days, and were
perhaps the closest that the
Romans came to having
weeks (seven days’ work
followed by a day at the market
or a day off)
Other days
• F = dies fasti, when business
was permitted
• C = dies comitiales, when
assemblies could meet
• N = dies nefasti, days
unfavourable to business
• NP = dies nefasti publici,
probably days of public
religious festivals
• EN = dies endotercisi, ‘in-
between days’, functioning as
a dies fastus in the morning
and a dies comitalis in the
afternoon
Holidays
• Holidays, when no work took place, were
extremely numerous
• A Republican calendar has 192 dies fasti
(business days) and 109 nefasti per year
• There were also dies atri, the anniversaries of
disasters, when it was unlucky to do anything
• By the later second century there were so many
holidays that Marcus Aurelius limited their
number to 135 per year
Hours of the day
• Sunrise and sunset
were the two markers
of time
• Between these, the
Romans counted 12
hours of the day and
12 hours of the night
• Midday was the point
when the sixth hour of
the day became the
seventh hour
• Midday was meridies • This meant that the
• A.m. = ante meridiem length of the hours
• P.m. = post meridiem changed depending
on the time of year
• Midnight was the mid- (day hours were short
point between sunset in winter, long in
and sunrise, when the summer)
sixth hour of the night
changed to the • At the equinox day
seventh hour and night were of
equal length
Telling the time
• Sundials were the only effective way of
telling what hour it was
• Water clocks (clepsydrae) were used to
time things
• Hour glasses could also be used to time
things (speeches etc.)
Water clocks
• A simple water clock
is a container filled
with water and with a
hole at its base to let
water out
• The problem is that
as the pressure
decreases, the clock
gets less accurate
A better water clock
• Water flow from A is regulated
by valve F
• The flow from A into tank
BCDE is further controlled by
float G
• Water then drips at an even
pace into container KLMN,
raising float P
• This causes Q to rise against
the drum STUV
• STUV can be turned so that
the spaces between the lines
match the length of the hours
(short in winter for days, long
in summer)
• The clock has to be reset by
draining KLMN using O
Another water clock
• This one works in
much the same way,
except that there is no
allowance made for
hours of different
lengths
The Roman day

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